s/p arrest - do you ask pts what they remember?

[FlyMom]

Just curious, do any of you have protocols or procedures for talking to patients on what, if anything, they remember during their cardiac arrest after they wake up?

My hospital would like more information. Not even sure it is out there.

Thanks so much!

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I don't know p&p, especially since I don't work in the hospital anymore. But as a student I had a patient one day, then the next day when I wasn't there he coded and they brought him back. He spent 2 weeks in the ICU then came back to the unit I was doing my preceptorship on and I had him as a patient again. We were talking about what happened and he said the last thing he remembered was hearing the nurse say "Oh ****!" We asked her about it and she verified that was accurate

[BelgianRN]

We take care of a lot of OHCA patients in my department. And we don't routinely ask them about what they remember. Generally they are still so disoriented by the time they leave us and go to the cardiac step down that we can barely have a conversation with them. Many have short term memory loss.

The ones that did remember some things nearly always remember their last few moments before coding. Or the pain from the fist from the thump as they went into Vtach.

I remember one time I cardioverted a Vtach on a post cardiosurgery patient. Made sure he was out of it no response, pushed extra meds just to make sure and when I shocked he grabbed my wrist. Pushed more midazolam and pain meds following that event. I carefully asked him if he remembered anything about it afterwards, but thankfully for him he didn't and felt great.

[Vespertinas]

Or the pain from the fist from the thump as they went into Vtach.

you still do that? I've always wanted a shot

[BelgianRN]

Not on a Vfib but I might try on a Vtach if they are half out of it, beats having to sedate and shock them. Or having the MD shock them while half awake. Saw that once and I was ready to pass out next to the patient from his screaming. Mostly the patients that remember the thump are the ones we get from the wards where they won't have immediate defib available.

[NightOwlGirl]

I coded during my postpartum hemorrhage & when I was stable again, after surgery & in ICU, the nurses & one doctor asked what I could remember.

The answer was nothing at all. I recalled shouting "I'm scared, please help me!", my head swimming, then blackout.

This was verified by the nurse who had been assigned to me in Mother-Baby, since I coded three hours after giving birth.